LINKIN PARK saw in the festival season last night (June 5)
at DOWNLOAD 2004.
The nu-metal champs headlined the main stage at the
returning rock festival, at the heavy metal stomping ground of
Donington Park.
Sporting a new mohawk, Chester
Bennington led his band through a rousing set off hits from their
two albums ‘Hybrid Theory’ and’Meteora’.
Headlining the other stages were Pennywise and
Peaches, while The Hives previewed
their new album ‘Tyrannosaurus Hives’, while
Iggy Pop and The Stooges played
their first show on UK soil in over two decades.
Speculation was rife that he would join
Peaches for the duet ‘Kick It’. However,
Peaches performed the tune alongside a projection of
Iggy at her headline show on the Barfly Stage.
Playing the Snickers Bowl,
Electric 6 introduced three new songs, ‘Dance
Epidemic’, ‘Telephone Conversation’ and
‘Be My Dark Angel’. Singer Dick
Valentine told NME.COM he
was happy to be playing such a traditionally hard rock event.
He said: “You could look out there and see that a
lot of people knew the words not just to the hits but to the other songs
as well. Last night we played in Exeter to 200 people, so we
play the big shows and we play the small shows. We enjoy
playing.”
The Distillers also triumphed on
the main stage, with Brody Dalle sporting newly
blonde hair and high heels, which she cast off after almost falling over.
“I’m never wearing heels ever again onstage until I learn how to wear
them onstage. I was tumbling around the stage like a retarded
reptile.”
Download continues tonight (June
6), with Metallica headlining.